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Lord of the Rings – Return of the King
(Toy Biz) 2003 – 2005

Return of the King was released in 2003, and expectations were very high for the conclusion of this epic trilogy, as well as the toy line. The movie went on to become a smash hit, for the fans AND critics, winning numerous awards including 11 Oscars. Toy Biz released several waves of new and re-released figures, along with large sized figures, multipacks, gift packs and various accessories. This was also a bitter sweet time for fans, as the end of the trilogy meant the end of new Lord of the Rings movie toys as well.

For more information about Toy Biz’s (LOTR) Return of the King line, see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Return of the King (2003): Half Moon Packaging – Series 1

Toy Biz released only four figures for the premier wave of “Half-Moon” Packaged figures from Return of the King in 2003. Featured were Crossbow Uruk-Hai, Eomer in Ceremonial Armor, Frodo in Goblin Armor and Sam Gamgee in Goblin Armor.

Return of the King (2003): Half Moon Packaging – Series 2

Toy Biz released only four figures for the 2nd wave of “Half-Moon” Packaged figures from Return of the King in 2003. Featured were Eowyn in Armor, Gandalf the White, Super Poseable Gollum and Super Poseable Pelennor Fields Aragorn.

Return of the King (2003): Half Moon Packaging – Series 3

Toy Biz released five figures for the 3rd wave of “Half-Moon” Packaged figures from Return of the King in 2003. Featured were Eowyn with Sword Slashing Action, Gollum with Electronic Base, Smeagol with Electronic Base, Prologue Bilbo and Treebeard.

Return of the King (2003): Half Moon Packaging – Series 4

Toy Biz released five figures for the 4th and final wave of “Half-Moon” Packaged figures from Return of the King in 2003. Featured were Aragorn, Aragorn in King of Gondor Armor, Haradrim Archer, Legolas in Rohan and Pippin in Armor.

Return of the King (2004-2005): Small Card Packaging – Series 1

In 2004, Toy Biz re-released four figures from the previous wave of “Half-Moon” figures, but with the new small card packaging. Featured were Aragorn in King of Gondor Armor, Haradrim Archer, Legolas in Rohan and Pippin in Armor.

Return of the King (2004-2005): Small Card Packaging – Series 2

Toy Biz continued the new small card packaged figures from Return of the King with a new 2nd wave of four more figures. Unlike the previous wave, these figures were brand new and had never been seen before. Featured were Faramir in Gondorian Armor, King of the Dead, Merry in Rohan Armor and the Morgul Lord Witch-King.

Return of the King (2004-2005): Small Card Packaging – Series 3

Toy Biz continued the new small card packaged figures from Return of the King with a new 3rd wave consisting of six figures. Like the previous wave, these figures were brand new and had never been seen before. Featured were Arwen in Coronation Gown, Cirith Ungol Uruk-Hai, Gimli in Coronation Outfit, Ringwraith, Super Poseable Shelob and Super Poseable Smeagol.

Return of the King (2004-2005): Small Card Packaging – Series 4

Toy Biz continued the new small card packaged figures from Return of the King with a new 4th wave consisting of six figures. Like the previous waves, these figures were brand new and had never been seen before. Featured were Denethor Steward of Gondor, Minas Tirith Citadel Guard, Shelob Attack Frodo, Smeagol Stoor Fisherman, Super Poseable Aragorn and Super Poseable Gorbag.

Return of the King (2004-2005): Small Card Packaging – Series 5

Toy Biz continued the new small card packaged figures from Return of the King with a new 5th wave consisting of six figures. Like the previous waves, these figures were brand new and had never been seen before. Featured were Electronic Eye of Sauron, Gothmog, Legolas with Dagger Throwing Action, Mount Doom Frodo, Mount Doom Sam and Samwise Gamgee in Orc Armor.

Return of the King (2003-2005): Two-Packs (UK Exclusives)

Although Toy Biz did not release any Two-Packs for their Return of the King in the North American markets, they did release seven new Two-Packs for the U.K market, including the White Wizards Two-Pack with Gandalf and Saruman.

Return of the King (2003-2005): Three-Packs (UK Exclusives)

Toy Biz released one new Three-Pack for their Return of the King as a U.K market exclusive, which was titled “Freedom to Edoras”. The set included Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas.

Aragorn/Gimli/Legolas “Freedom to Edoras” (UK Exclusive)

Market Value:
Boxed $80 – $110
Loose $35 – $55

Aragorn/Gimli/Legolas “Freedom to Edoras” (UK Exclusive)
Year Released: 2003

Return of the King (2003-2004): Deluxe Horse & Rider Sets

Toy Biz continued their Deluxe House and Rider Sets for Return of the King in 2003 with six releases. Of those six sets, only Legolas w/ Horse and Sharku w/ Warg were new. The other sets were re-releases from previous waves, but with the new blue colored packaging.

Return of the King (2003-2005): Gift Packs

Toy Biz releases several beautiful Gift Packs throughout their run of Lord of the Rings action figures, and that certainly continued with Return of the King in 2003. Several brand new sets made their debut, along with a couple of previously issued Gift Packs from the Two Towers line re-released with the new blue packing.

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Return of the King (2003-2005): Large Sized Figures

As in previous years, Toy Biz released several “Large Sized” figures, different than the traditional boxed 12″ figures. There were a few re-releases, including Treebeard, Sauron, Cave Troll and a two-pack featuring previously released Saruman and Sauron. Toy Biz did give us two new figures though, with the Electronic Battle Troll and a very cool looking Deluxe Poseable Fell Beast with a Ringwraith.

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Return of the King (2003-2004): 12 Inch Figures

The 12 Inch figure series continued with Return of the King, but only three characters were released in their usual boxed format, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas. A fourth figure, Gollum, was released with an electronic talking feature in an open window box.

Return of the King (2004-2005): 12 Inch Figures – Deluxe Poseable

In addition to the usual 12 Inch boxed figures, Toy Biz also released a series of “Deluxe Poseable” figures, which included some great sculpts and highly detailed costumes and weapons. There were nine of these Deluxe figures in all, with the Battle Troll being among the harder to find from the series.

Year Released: 2004

Return of the King (2003-2004): Weapons & Accessories

Toy Biz re-released the Electronic Light ‘N’ Sound Sting Sword and Uruk-Hai Crossbow Set for the Return of the King line, and even added a new roleplay weapon, the Electronic Anduril Sword of King Elessar, which was used by Aragorn.

Return of the King was released in 2003, and expectations were very high for the conclusion of this epic trilogy, as well as the toy line. The movie went on to become a smash hit, for the fans AND critics, winning numerous awards including 11 Oscars. Toy Biz released several waves of new and re-released figures, along with large sized figures, multipacks, gift packs and various accessories. This was also a bitter sweet time for fans, as the end of the trilogy meant the end of new Lord of the Rings movie toys as well. 

Many of the figures released for Return of the King were new figures to the line, although there were certainly some re-releases from Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers as well. Among the highlights from the figure line included Aragorn King of Gondor, Smeagol Stoor Fisherman, Faramir in Gondor Amor, Shelob, King of the Dead, Arwen in her Coronation Gown and the Eye or Sauron. Like the two previously lines, Toy Biz also released a series of Horses with Figures, 12″ Figures, Large Sized Figures, Multipacks and various Gift Packs. This line sold well, but despite the massive success of the movie, sales for Return of the King items definitely showed a decrease from the previous movies. It remained very popular with collectors, but kids just weren’t buying the new toys up as before. These toys can now be found in abundance at just about every comic, toy or hobby shop at reasonable prices. Overall, this is a fairly inexpensive and fun line to collect and easily found, but definitely takes up quite a bit of space.

The packaging for the Return of the King line was similar to the previous two movies, but the color theme was now changed to a nice shade of Blue. As before, Toy Biz released the first four waves on a lovely eye-catching “Half-Moon” package before switching a “Small Card” blister pack. Personally, I loved the look of the Half-Moon packaging, but they could be difficult to display or store due to the odd shape. The smaller carded packaging are certainly much easier to store or display, but definitely lacked the flair of the larger Half-Moon package. All other items from this line came in the same Blue colored packaging. The early release gift packs came in the regular Return of the King Blue, but later releases had different color schemes, depending on which gift pack it was.